Chorus performs work by Soft Machine rocker

Fanshawe Chorus London and guests present music for Easter by Brahms and Welsh composer Karl Jenkins on Good Friday,

“This year we are welcoming the Concert Players’ Orchestra and special guests the Mohawk College Community Choir to join us for Brahms’ Nanie and Karl Jenkins powerful and raw Stabat Mater,” Fanshawe Chorus London artistic director David Holler says. “There will be over 150 musicians on stage. We have already performed this once in Hamilton last week to rave reviews.”

Among the guest performers is acclaimed Kitchener-tied mezzo Jennifer Enns Modolo, who has appeared as a soloist with such groups as the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Elora Festival Singers.

Stabat Mater by Jenkins combines the traditional Western tradition of choir and orchestra with Middle Eastern instrumental and vocal colours. Chorus representatives say Friday will be the first time it’s been performed in London.

Jenkins was a member of British art rock band the Soft Machine in the early 1970s. He has become much more famous as a composer. Fanshawe Chorus London and allies presented his The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace in 2011.